Happiness is all about perspective and outlook for the future.
A UCLA study revealed that two distinct groups of people who experienced life changing events, one bad (the death of a loved one) and one good (winning a huge sum of money in the lottery), returned to their relative measure of happiness within one year of the event. Meaning the grumpy folks who won the lottery and were set for life were still grumpy. And the happy folks, even after suffering a great loss were relatively happy after one year.
Hard to believe perhaps, but it makes sense. And during my 40-something years on the planet, I have come across some models of centering, contemplation, recovery and joy that I feel it would be helpful to share. I am not planning a program or any type of revelation, merely an inner dialogue and revelation about some of my greatest comforts and simplest observations and lessons.
Reading and Writing
Books have always formed a huge part of my life. TV never held the sway that the library on a Saturday afternoon did. New books! And writing has come and gone throughout my education and career as a invaluable skill. Sometimes it's poetry sometimes PowerPoint. Sometimes I am writing songs and other times I am merely sketching architectures for web sites or a new idea I am trying to get across.
Drawing (or visualizing and transmitting ideas)
Playing Music (getting into a deeper mode of transmission)
Playing Tennis (removing the thinker)
Being Dad (me, mine and my family)
Being Still (pausing between thoughts)
Being Happy (pausing to recognize the happiness, both alone and with others)
Being a Connector (I want you to succeed, and if I can help or connect you with someone or something)
Being a Seeker (can we truly imagine the grandness of god?)
Giving Everything Away (I want you to have this)
Books of Great Value in My Life
[the following list is uncorrected and from memory, I will correct and add links later]
Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman
The Razor's Edge, Summerset Maugham
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
Dharma Bums, Jack Kerouac
Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller
iChing
Inner Game of Tennis
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
Betrayed By Rita Hayworth, Manuel Puig
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
Collected Works of e.e. cummings
Dune, Frank Herbert
Foundation Series, Arthur C. Clark
Down and Out in London and Paris, George Orwell
Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Sallinger
Collected Journals of Anais Nin
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson
Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
10 Love Poems and a Song of Despair, Pablo Neruda
Digital Mantras
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lincioni
The Art of Project Management and The Myth of Innovation, Scott Berkun
Books about Thinking or Happiness or the Brain
The Myth of Happiness
A General Theory of Love, Thomas Lewis, MD.
This is Your Brain on Music
Beyond the Brain, Stanislov Grof
Happy At Last, Richard O'Connor, MSW. PhD
That's enough for now, it's time for the resting part of the equation,
@jmacofearth
permalink: http://uber.la/2009/02/moment-of-happiness/
[This post is a starting point, it will become a page and evolve as I add to it, add the links to all the books and such. I hope you book mark or subscribe to it and return when you are looking for an uplift.]
